选择慢成长的五家创业公司

集中化商业模式

公司名称：搜索引擎优化管理公司Conductor

地点：纽约州，纽约市

年收益：销售额1000万美元

    搜索引擎优化科技公司Conductor成立于2007年，以咨询业务起家。公司拥有风险投资支持，目前销售额增长势头迅猛，已增至约2,000万美元。公司开发了Searchlight软件，帮助联邦快递（FedEx）、西门子（Siemens）和史泰博（Staples）等用户来对其搜索引擎进行优化管理。Searchlight于2010年推出后获得了巨大成功。首席执行官、创始人赛斯•贝斯莫特尼克称：“我当时已经意识到这就是公司的未来，出售公司的服务业务是很艰难的抉择。”

    公司投资者也支持该公司的全局发展目标，但公司总收益却因此几乎在一夜之间骤降至每年约100万美元。但销售额并未触底很久。公司向企业客户收取的年费从35,000美元到数十万美元不等，预计今年销售额将有望超过1,000万美元。

A business model pivot

Company: Conductor

Location: New York, N.Y.

Revenues: $10 million run rate

    Founded in 2007, search engine optimization (SEO) technology firm Conductor started out as a consultancy, growing rapidly to about $20 million in sales. Along the way, the venture-capital backed company built Searchlight, software that helps clients -- which include FedEx, Siemens and Staples -- manage their SEO. After Searchlight launched in 2010, it took off like gangbusters. "I felt that was the future of the company," said CEO and founder Seth Besmertnik. "I made a very hard choice to sell the services business."

    That focus on the big picture, supported by the company's investors, reduced its revenues dramatically to about $1 million annually, almost overnight. But sales didn't stay at rock bottom for long. The company -- which charges enterprise clients from $35,000 a year to hundreds of thousands -- expects sales north of $10 million this year.